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Appropriate Encounter CR
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<blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6048400" data-attributes="member: 1210"><p>First, note that 4e (and the 3.5 Dungeonscape book) has tons of great advice for encounter design; its focus on the encounter certainly paid off in terms of really helping me to evolve and improve my own encounter design. If you have access to a 4e DMG it's worth a look at the sections on building encounters. Likewise, Dungeonscape has a great section on this, including the 3e take on "monster roles". So yeah, if you can, check both of those out for good advice. </p><p></p><p>Now, as far as 1st level guys making up an EL 4 encounter, yeah, you can pretty much expect them to go down easier than a single CR 4 monster. It's one of the things about the CR/EL system that really doesn't work well, especially if you're dealing with a large discrepancy in encounter level vs. CR. (Theoretically, 1500 level 1 human warriors- each CR 1/2- are an EL 20 encounter, but as many dms who have run high/epic level spellcasters in 3e can attest, they really aren't.)</p><p></p><p>EDIT: Whoops, submitted before I was ready by mistake.</p><p></p><p>What I would do, in your case, is bear in mind that such encounters are going to be easier than predicted by EL. This leads to a couple of add-on effects: You can use higher EL encounters by using lower-level monsters without swamping your pcs, and the "double quantity = EL +2" rule lets you add some but not double the numbers of enemies without a very large impact on EL.</p><p></p><p>(In other words, 4 level 1 pc-class npcs are an EL5 encounter and 8 level 1 dudes are an EL 7 encounter. Therefore, five to seven 1st level pc-class npcs make an EL 6 encounter.)</p><p></p><p>Npc classes also offer nice opportunities, since they clock in at a slightly lower CR, so you can use either more bad guys or bad guys who are a level higher. </p><p></p><p>So the question becomes: How hard of a fight do you really want this to be? It sounds like you want a not-cakewalk but not-too-tough fight, and you only have a party size of four (so all these calculations are slightly off anyhow). So here are a couple of options for you:</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Archery Assault - Encounter Level 5</u></strong></p><p>This encounter should start at range; this is the stereotypical "elven xenopaths shoot at people intruding in their lands" kind of encounter.</p><p></p><p>1 elven ranger 2 (the leader) (bow style)</p><p>2 elven ranger 1s (bow style)</p><p>1 elven druid 1 (entangle the party and keep them away)</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Novice Adventurers - Encounter Level 5</u></strong></p><p>These fellows are the new adventuring party on the block and are quite arrogant. The pcs might slay them or might defeat and humiliate them; they could even end up allying together.</p><p></p><p>1 dwarf fighter 1 </p><p>1 elf wizard 1</p><p>1 halfling rogue 1</p><p>1 human cleric 1</p><p></p><p><strong><u>Attack En Mass - Encounter Level 6</u></strong></p><p>This works equally well whether it's goblins, humans or whatever CR 1/2ish race. The party is attacked by a mass of them, maybe bandits, maybe a savage warband, whatever. The point is, this is about as many bodies as you can get without hitting EL 7. Your pcs would have to take about 4 each of them; I'm pretty sure a 4th level party could, but it might be tight, and bad luck for the pcs, good luck for the warriors or foolish player actions might change the situation to one of overwhelming odds.</p><p></p><p>15 human warrior 1s</p><p></p><p></p><p>Hope these help!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="the Jester, post: 6048400, member: 1210"] First, note that 4e (and the 3.5 Dungeonscape book) has tons of great advice for encounter design; its focus on the encounter certainly paid off in terms of really helping me to evolve and improve my own encounter design. If you have access to a 4e DMG it's worth a look at the sections on building encounters. Likewise, Dungeonscape has a great section on this, including the 3e take on "monster roles". So yeah, if you can, check both of those out for good advice. Now, as far as 1st level guys making up an EL 4 encounter, yeah, you can pretty much expect them to go down easier than a single CR 4 monster. It's one of the things about the CR/EL system that really doesn't work well, especially if you're dealing with a large discrepancy in encounter level vs. CR. (Theoretically, 1500 level 1 human warriors- each CR 1/2- are an EL 20 encounter, but as many dms who have run high/epic level spellcasters in 3e can attest, they really aren't.) EDIT: Whoops, submitted before I was ready by mistake. What I would do, in your case, is bear in mind that such encounters are going to be easier than predicted by EL. This leads to a couple of add-on effects: You can use higher EL encounters by using lower-level monsters without swamping your pcs, and the "double quantity = EL +2" rule lets you add some but not double the numbers of enemies without a very large impact on EL. (In other words, 4 level 1 pc-class npcs are an EL5 encounter and 8 level 1 dudes are an EL 7 encounter. Therefore, five to seven 1st level pc-class npcs make an EL 6 encounter.) Npc classes also offer nice opportunities, since they clock in at a slightly lower CR, so you can use either more bad guys or bad guys who are a level higher. So the question becomes: How hard of a fight do you really want this to be? It sounds like you want a not-cakewalk but not-too-tough fight, and you only have a party size of four (so all these calculations are slightly off anyhow). So here are a couple of options for you: [b][u]Archery Assault - Encounter Level 5[/u][/b] This encounter should start at range; this is the stereotypical "elven xenopaths shoot at people intruding in their lands" kind of encounter. 1 elven ranger 2 (the leader) (bow style) 2 elven ranger 1s (bow style) 1 elven druid 1 (entangle the party and keep them away) [b][u]Novice Adventurers - Encounter Level 5[/u][/b] These fellows are the new adventuring party on the block and are quite arrogant. The pcs might slay them or might defeat and humiliate them; they could even end up allying together. 1 dwarf fighter 1 1 elf wizard 1 1 halfling rogue 1 1 human cleric 1 [b][u]Attack En Mass - Encounter Level 6[/u][/b] This works equally well whether it's goblins, humans or whatever CR 1/2ish race. The party is attacked by a mass of them, maybe bandits, maybe a savage warband, whatever. The point is, this is about as many bodies as you can get without hitting EL 7. Your pcs would have to take about 4 each of them; I'm pretty sure a 4th level party could, but it might be tight, and bad luck for the pcs, good luck for the warriors or foolish player actions might change the situation to one of overwhelming odds. 15 human warrior 1s Hope these help! [/QUOTE]
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